Upanishads · Bhasmajābāla 2.70
॥
Devanāgarī
ततश्चाप्रमादेन निवसेदप्रमादेन निवसेत्काश्यां लिङ्गरूपिण्यामित्युपनिषत्
Transliteration (IAST)
tataścāpramādena nivasedapramādena nivasetkāśyāṃ liṅgarūpiṇyāmityupaniṣat
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ततः च अ-प्रमादेन निवसेत्tataḥ ca a-pramādena nivasettherefore, without negligence, let him dwell
अ-प्रमादेन निवसेत् काश्याम्a-pramādena nivaset kāśyāmwithout negligence let him dwell in Kāśī
लिङ्ग-रूपिण्याम्liṅga-rūpiṇyāmof the One having the form of the liṅga
इति उपनिषत्iti upaniṣatsuch is the upaniṣad
Translation
«Therefore let him dwell without negligence, let him dwell without negligence in Kāśī, of the One having the form of the liṅga. Such is the upaniṣad».
Version
e607f5af78cc · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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The book ends with the same word with which it began its prescriptions: a-pramādena, «without negligence» — repeated twice. Pramāda means «neglect, carelessness, forgetfulness»; and it is worth noting that the chief fault named in the book's final line is not wickedness but inattention. Not «do not kill» and not «do not lie» stand in its last line, but «be not neglectful».
Looking back over what has been read, let us say plainly what is in this book and what is not. There are things in it worth having read: the one who takes the dead onto his lap and speaks the mantra to him (2.62); «that I partake of» and «him I release» (2.41–42), in the very words of the Gītā; «leaves, fruits, water, or something else» (2.46); a torment that ends with «purified, they come» (2.68); and «my-formedness» in place of merger (2.64). There is also in it what cannot be accepted, and we have not softened it: the ban on teaching by birth, called an eternal law (1.18, 1.20); the casting of renunciants to jackals (1.22); the promise to purify the killer of one's mother and father (1.26); the threat of becoming an eater of semen for what is eaten without an offering (2.43); the filth with which the ancestors are besprinkled (2.69).
Its chief flaw, however, is not in its cruelties but in its structure. It is almost entirely a price list: so much grain — such a world, four times as much — non-return (2.49–2.54); and even its highest is bought with the same currency as heaven, only in a larger amount. And it refutes its own price list — in that very line where the recipient lies dead and can pay nothing. Hence, to my mind, it is worth reading such books to the end: they are rarely consistent, and what is best in them usually stands exactly where they contradict themselves.